Tuesday, December 17, 2013

I thought I'd make a little announcement, although I hate it when people announce things like this. They usually end up coming back, if it still means enough for them to make the announcement. But I feel like I should say that I'm taking an indefinite hiatus, and it might be final. I won't say goodbye. I'll say farewell for now, acknowledging that I might come back. (This way I won't feel like a total idiot if I make a new post in two months.)

Nothing specific happened to make me feel this way, fandoms just have a lifespan. I didn't wake up one morning disillusioned, there was no big disappointment. More like I woke up one morning as a fan of Welcome to Night Vale, and I fell for the main actor, and I can't keep two simultaneous fandoms going. It's a show and fandom that kind of eats you up. But it's also exactly my kind of thing, in a way that even BSG never was.

Another thing is that James is not very visible right now. If his roles continue to be bit parts in shows like CSI, and indie movies I don't get to see, my fandom might not have enough fuel to keep burning. I really loved BSG, and Going Wrong and Sex and Chips and FlashForward. But after that, my excitement has waned - not for his acting, but for the kind of shows and roles he's been in. My dream is still that James gets a main role in a really intelligent drama - think something on HBO perhaps, in the style of In Treatment of the Sopranos. If that happens, I'll most likely be back. He's a brilliant actor, and he has that charisma that I find hard to resist. I just wish he got jobs where he can use that potential.

This blog will stay up as an archive, as will the Fuck Yeah James Callis! (why didn't I name it Frak Yeah?). I won't make new original posts for now, unless something really major happens. (There's a post at FY! on James as Shakespeare in Key & Peele, in case you haven't seen it yet.) Once the Night Vale fandom mellows out a bit, and/or James gets a more prominent role in something I really love, I might come back. Obviously I'm not really going anywhere. You can reach me at deniselle dot swan at gmail dot com. I'm on Tumblr as deniselle, too. If you're into Night Vale, I've got a blog for the show and the actor.

I've loved writing this blog and sharing James news and thoughts with you guys. This fandom has had less drama and more friends than any other I've been a part of (Night Vale included),

Obviously that goes for you too James, if you happen to see this. You're a great actor, and I wish you a great career and a long happy life.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Wednesday, September 18
Sorry for the long gap! Life and work got in the way.

A group photo with fans. (The fan's dress reminds me of Starbuck's ball gown, which might not be a coincidence.) James looks casual, a bit tired, and tiny next to Tahmoh. Very cute.

Cute panel photos, very James. Rubbing his leg, wearing the CALIS FINEST shirt, and just being his adorable self. He manages to look so boyish still. Maybe he's a child at heart.

Friday dinner. And he's wearing a denim jacket with rolled-up sleeves. I know I've said many things about his outfits over the years, but I really like his new casual style. It's just down to earth and.. normal. It makes him look like a regular guy, and I like that.

Callis: I don’t know if they fall in love with him (…) I don’t know why, exactly. The writing was very brilliant. He’s in these very strange situations, he’s quite human; he doesn’t have all the answers.
Of course we fall in love with Baltar! He's a loveable guy. It's just the people who don't get the show that hate him. Well, maybe that's not entirely fair, he's kind of detestable too. But he's definitely not all bad.

There was a link with a lovely James and Tahmoh pic, but where is it now? I should always post the updates right away, or they get lost in the spam and general mentions of James on Google. Anyhoo, somewhere out there is a lovely picture of James and Tahmoh just talking, and they had misspelled "Penikett" on the note on the wall, and James had a glass of Coke I think?! Also a yellow cap. If someone finds that picture, link it to me plz. It was so cute.Sunday, September 15 Calis Finest. Heee! Adorable. And I try not to comment on his weight, but it does seem that when he takes the flannel off, it's like washing a cat - there's basically nothing underneath. I'm probably the only one who's disappointed by that. But very cute anyway. I think I like the goatee, it suits his benevolent face. He can muse into his beard and all that.

Gaius and the Sixes. OMG, these are so good. He's really getting into it, posing like those season four posters.

:D :D :D
I think most people don't even consider that James might be on Twitter, reading what people say about him. Not that that's such a terrible bash, but still.

Thanks to all for the updates, more to come soon!Saturday, September 14

Well, it's that time again! Con time. An exciting time when people get to meet James, and us at home get a little glimpse of that through the Internet. As usual, I will do the googling, so you can just sit back and read this post. This time the con is in Montréal, Canada. Which is apparently a bilingual city with both English- and French-speakers. If there are French-speaking reports, I'll do my best to translate them.

First photo - he has a goatee?! Wasn't he completely face-hairless just a few short weeks ago? I'm not sure if I'm ready for this jelly. It looks better than just a mustache for some reason, maybe because his mustache tends to be so very thick. But you know what a goatee might mean - this isn't James but his evil twin. Rames. The hair is short/shorn, and he's wearing a nice beige coat and jeans, looking very British Gentleman. Somehow this outfit reminds me of Starfury a few years back, when he was there with Jamie Bamber.

So far, so good: we have two clips from last night's Q&A! Thanks to Frederic Gingras. The panel was meant to be just James and Tahmoh Penikett, but Michael Hogan and Edward James Olmos showed up there as well. Which might mean James didn't get to talk all that much.

In this video, he doesn't talk, but he reaches into his pocket and takes out his glasses, and then he smiles at EJO like "Look, I'm wearing glasses like you!" And Eddie smiles and rubs his shoulder all father-like. TOO CUTE! NerdJames!

And in this one (embedded below). he does talk a bit. They're asked about the original series, and James says he was upset as a child when the pilots couldn't save everyone. "I kept on then thinking maybe there were more seats in the Viper." The audience laughs, and James tells them he's serious. Awww! I know I did that with every unhappy ending as a kid: I had to imagine a happy ending for it, otherwise it was just too depressing. I find it kind of touching that James was that sensitive as a kid too.

There's been another panel today, with the same people. (Katee, Tricia and Jamie all had to cancel this con, so it's the four.. musketeers.. stooges.. little pigs? No, it doesn't sound good.) Not that many updates on that yet, but...

"What did you do to get the role?" - "I uh, had to sleep with a lot of people." FUCKING JAMES CALLIS#mtlcomiccon

Heee. Silly Billy!

Then there's this. And, you know, to each her own but I wouldn't call someone a "douche" over wearing sunglasses. So... I had a good chuckle at this one, and I imagine James will too, when he reads it.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

No, this is not one of those spam links. Writer/director Howard Webster submitted a post to my Tumblr blog, Fuck Yeah James Callis!, yesterday informing the fans that the full movie has been uploaded on Kickstarter! They are raising money to make a feature film this fall.

We relaunched the Kickstarter campaign because we were offered a deal and Kickstarter wouldn’t let us change the target amount after we launched. So we had to cancel and start again - and as a thank you to fans who pledged and supported us - we posted the entire short film starring James and Bertie and Craig Fairbrass on the Kickstarter page - people love the short and are watching and sharing and pledging. So please spread the word - and do a little pledge - to support us. Here’s the link.

So, go there and see the film, and give generously if you can! :) I saw it last night and must say I laughed out loud many times - and I'm a humorless feminist, and this sort of humor isn't my favorite, so it's a good sign if I laughed. The site has a Facebook link to Mr Webster, if you'd like to leave feedback on the movie!

The film is funny and very, very naughty. I have never seen James in something with that many references to his... hee hee.. ahem, penis. It's hilarious to see James do something like this, after seeing him talk coyly in an interview about signing a girls "[long beat].. eh, bosoms". I'm not sure where James falls on the super naughty-not naughty at all spectrum, but I think you can safely say, Mr Webster is firmly on the super naughty side.

The short is only 25 minutes, so it's more like vignettes of raunchy scenes put together, and thus gives a trailerish feel. The full feature would have more of a focused story, and thus more room for the great material we've seen in the form of outtakes. The film had good stuff, but I was disappointed that they cut out the grandmother story, which is on the site as an outtake video. That was the scene I laughed at the most. My other complaint is that it's slightly too in your face, much in the style of shows like Californication and Weeds. As in, "OMG aren't we outrageous?" Webster is a great writer who does verbal fireworks skilfully, so the outrageousness isn't always necessary in my view. Sometimes the over-the-top quality worked well, though, especially with the "buttprint on laptop". I scared my cats laughing out loud at that one. But it might be a matter of taste. My taste runs more in the "hilarious verbal brilliance delivered with a serious face" category, which was also well represented here. There's a voice-over from James, which was enjoyable and hopefully will be there in the longer film too.

The acting is great throughout. James is very charming, doing the "wide-eyed sweet loser" (reminiscent of his own movie, Beginner's Luck, which was also a small budget feature with ambition). And he gets to be flirtatious - there are even a few quick sex scenes! But he appears fully clothed throughout, I mean WHY?? Why no shirt-free scenes? I hope Mr Webster realizes what the audience wants and needs. The most popular search leading to my blog has always been "James Callis shirtless". I'm hoping for some of that, as well as more "James with a dog" adorability, in the feature film. (We do get James in hilarious 80's gear, James jamming to headphones, and James with a sleeping mask on, though, so I'm reasonably happy.) The dog was almost completely left out of the film for some reason.

But I digress. The other male lead, Robert Portal, is also deliciously evil and very funny, and the female lead, Anya Lahiri, is doing a great job as the sexy and strong woman Pursuit falls for. I thought she had great chemistry with James. I'm not sure if she will be in the feature film, though.

I tend to be uncomfortable with raunchy/outrageous humor like this, yet I also laugh at it. So if/when the feature film happens, you can expect an ambivalent review with some political reservations. I'll try my best not to write a full-on feminist analysis though.

All in all, a fun film, and I hope to see more of this in the future. Go see it, you've never seen James his raunchy!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

I'm not sure what my first feeling is - excitement that this looks so entertaining, or disappointment that James isn't credited? I thought he was more well-known than JJ Feild or Bret McKenzie. On the other hand, we have three female actors credited, which is rare in a trailer, so I feel like being feministly excited too. It's complicated.

And why is James wearing an undershirt while Ricky Whittle is topless by the pool? (I do like that he's reading a book, though. Nice Jamesy touch.) We need more shirtless James!

There are quite a few short snippets of James, and it looks like he's going to be both the perfect-for-the-part gentleman and hilarious! Even the musctache doesn't bug me that much. Shannon Hale praised him on Twitter:

Fans of @jamescallis, I cannot crow enough about how witty and smart he is as an actor. You. Will. Die. #Austenland

Well I hope I will live to go and see the movie another time if it's that funny!

I promise that if this hits the cinemas in Finland, I will see it, possibly more than once. If it's really entertaining and Jamesy, I will leave my feminist glasses home and just enjoy it. (I can't pinky swear though, those glsases are hard to take off.)

My enjoyment of the movie will probably depend on how much romance there is as opposed to comedy. The trailer has a couple of funny scenes, but nothing laugh out loud, which might be a good sign. They saved a lot of fun for the film itself, while giving viewers the light entertaining feel of the film. I was very pessimistic and like "ugh a romantic comedy" when I first heard of this, but I take that back. Let's say I'm carefully optimistic and fairly sure I'll enjoy at least James' scenes. I do find the premise original, and I think it might promise quite a few laughs at old-timey garb and manners. We'll see!

Have I mentioned how adorable and charming Keri Russell is in my opinion? I think she's just really pretty and has great presence. She seems like the right pick for the main role in this.

The Austenland US premiere was set to be yesterday in LA, but I can't find any pictures of it, so I'm guessing James wasn't there? On the other hand, this article mentions they had a "women only" screening.

"This film is very uniquely female," she explains. "There can't be many movies in the marketplace that are based on a novel by a woman, scripted by women, produced by women, directed by a woman and starring a woman. There are beginning to be more female-centric, female-created movies in the marketplace, but they're still vastly the minority."

Edit: I'm apparently living in the future - it's August 16th, not July! So look forward to that, maybe James will be there. :)

I must say I was kind of delighted at this, because men tend to rate romantic comedies - and anything for and by women - low, or not even go see them. This might, of course, be problematic if there are any androgynous or trans* people in the audience. If any photos of James pop up, I will post here ASAP.

The UK release date is September 7, according to IMDB. I'm hoping that means a Europe-wide release!

Monday, June 3, 2013

Now we're talking! This was good stuff. For one thing, James has a pretty big role in the episode, unlike some shows *cough Arrow cough*. He's this cocky/excited journalist who wants to play forensics expert for a few days. He has all this enthusiasm, and then he actually gets to use his brain to solve the case. Also, apart from the mustache, he's looking DAMN FINE.

He's bringing in some new expressions, along with some patented James expressions I've seen before. It's fascinating. I'm not yet sure who this guy is, but I like him a lot. The voice is slightly deeper than James' regular voice - I'd say about a season 4 Gaius level of manliness. He brought his own accent to this show.

James as a detective works really well. That's one of the things about 17th Precinct that actually worked; he was so good at questioning a seedy criminal, which we obviously don't see here. But it was nice to see him do some detective work. I might almost be on board with James joining a formulaic cop/law show like Jamie Bamber did. Almost. Also, James and Ted Danson complement each other well. Tall and short, white-haired and dark-haired, really angular face and.. a James face? Either way, not angular.

As for the plot, well, it's CSI. You can tell we're in season 13 and they're running out of ideas. Someone kills sex workers (yawn), and he's basing it all on Dante and the seven deadly sins (double yawn). It's very Se7en and really, that movie came out ages ago. That said, it's not a bad episode; it's just average. James has done better and worse shows, but this was an enjoyable thing to watch, and I'm looking forward to the second part, which will air as the premiere of season 14. So we have to wait a good while for more Journalist James. I feel like there's something going on underneath that we don't know yet, and I'm pretty eager to find out more.

I took my time with this post, and then I ended up writing pretty much a scene-for-scene recap with photos, so scroll through or read properly, whichever suits you.

We begin with a Black Sabbath concert, where we're shown a full new song. Ted Danson and some other CSI guy are there, and I'm not entirely sure why, but whatever. Then James/John Merchiston interviews Ozzy Osbourne. It's the same scene we had in the previews, so I've commented on it here. I love how Ozzy mumbles something incoherent and John is all "I think we got it, thank you so much", as if he said something life-altering. Ozzy was a nice touch, all in all. The music is not my scene, but it gives the episode a nice send-off. There's also some Black Sabbath playing throuhgout the episode, but we won't see Ozzy again. He's apparently not one of those singer/actors like Meat Loaf. It would have been a fun twist if he were involved somehow.

(What would we call this look of his? Semi-casual? Comfortable? Close to James' own style really. I like the shirt, but I'm not sold on the coats this guy wears. OK, but this is not a fashion blog.) I love this picture, where Merchiston is moving from Ozzy to the CSI guys, still equally fanboyish. Very cute.

John Merchiston turns his attention to the CSI guys and asks for a chance to do an in-depth coverage of them. He even has a title he's apparently very proud of: "Police is Paradox in Sin City". (LOL headlines. Also that might be a reference to the sin theme of the episode.)

He looks at them like "Pretty good, huh? Do I wow you?" like a little boy who wants to play with the big boys. This whole scene plays out very big brother-little brother, also because Ted Danson is a head taller than James. His character - D.B. Russell - is not very excited about the idea, but when he gets a call about a new crime scene, he invites Merchiston in for some reason. Oh, and this takes place in Seattle, in case that's important.

At the crime scene, John is busy trying to convince the others that he has, in fact, been trained by the Scotland Yard for some article he did earlier, but they don't seem too impressed.

(That's Paul Guilfoyle next to James there.)

There's a mummified body, which is actually kind of cool in a morbid way. John doesn't seem too horrified, so maybe he really is a vet at crime scenes. Fun detail: James does the Gaius eye-roll/bulge as a reaction to the porn movie title! ("Lambskin Linings Playbook".) He looks totally like a guy who's crudely excited by porn, but has to pretend he totally isn't. Heee! Also, he recognizes the "new stripper smell" on the old body. The scent is called "Honeysuckle Summer", although he doesn't remember the full name (or pretends not to). Julie Finlay (played by Elisabeth Sue) asks, "Personal experience?" Merchiston: "I never reveal a source." This is pretty textbook crime show banter, so let's move along.

James' next scene is with George Eads, and it's a bit of a throwaway thing, but he gets to smell a very foul-smelling pill bug, which I guess is funny because his character acts like such a know it all ("I just came from Luxor.. the one in Egypt.. Hieroglyphics are just in my mind right now.")

So there's his nauseated face, which looks very realistic (maybe that's a real pill bug in the chair, at least it's a real nasty critter moving in there. No screencap of that coming.) Eads' character doesn't have much to say to Merchiston, so maybe he's hiding something, or maybe he just doesn't like to talk to nosy journalists.

The plot goes on, more sex workers are murdered, including a girl who would eat cakes on webcam. So she's gluttony, you know. This disgusts the detectives, but as you may know by now, I have a certain interest in the fatter side of the internet. Mostly acceptance, I must add, but I've seen some fetish imagery too, so to me this looks pretty tame. I'm not sure how accurate the portrayal is, because the girl they picked for the role is just Hollywood fat, not fat fat. And she's sitting behind a table eating, not showing off her gut or anything so it's, well, a TV version of a stuffing fetish. I'm glad they did this for James' episode, and not the horrifying diaper fetish man they had once on CSI: Miami, which I cannot unsee. Let's move on before I start seeing it in my head again .*shudders*

D..B. and Finley recap the deaths, and Merchiston cuts them off: "In flagrante Delecto. Death by chocolate." (Aha, Delecto is a brand of chocolate? I see what they did there.) Again, he looks so proud at his own wit. He just had to cut in, like he's been sitting on this one all day.

Speaking of sitting, D.B. decides to show Merchiston his place. He says, all politely, "Yeah do you mind not sitting on that, please?" (I'm not sure what "that" is, but it does give a nice creaking noise.) James does an awesome set of expressions here to show that he can sit wherever, but man, who would request such a thing? I loved this so much.

And the best Eye-Roll Accompanied by Reluctant Rising from a Seat goes to... James Callis! Merchiston, all hurt pride (Gaius-style), says, "Sorry. You got any issues with the couch?" D.B. doesn't even look at him anymore, because he is so the alpha dog and Merchiston better keep that in mind or else.

Enter Eric Roberts, who plays a sort of cult leader (I'm glad they didn't give James that role, he's done enough cult leaders for a while). "Brother" Larson has a church specifically for sex workers, as he used to be someone who worked as a pimp. He heard a voice saying, "How's that working out for you?" He goes on, "You call it God, you call it conscience", but it made him change his ways. I think he's called Dr. Phil. I had to get that joke in this post. Heh heh, I kill me. (Maybe I'm no better than John Merchiston.) Eric Roberts does a pretty awesome performance in this episode.

Next, we see James with George Eads's character.. Nick Stoke again. Merchiston tries to get Stokes to admit that a man of action shouldn't be running computer diagnostics. "Are you just going to stand there watching me like that?" says Stokes.

Hmmm, maybe he touched a nerve there? It would probably help if I knew more about the CSI universe, but there's nice tension in this scene - until Morgan Brody (played by Elisabeth Harnois) walks in. They've found Brother Larson's criminal history, which was long and colorful, and includes a weapon just like the one that killed one of the victims.

"Sounds like you've got your man," says Merchiston. Morgan reminds him that the similarity won't be enough in the court of law, although she quips "that might work on your editor". (Why are they all so snippy with him? Is it because they actually have something to hide from a journalist? He might be a bit annoying, but he's just doing his job.)

Suddenly the food fetish webcam goes live - activated by someone at the Church of Fallen Angels. Looks like the good Brother is in trouble now. (This screenshot, among others, really reminds me of Rob Reiner on All in the Family. The hair isn't the same, but that mustache...)

At the church, killjoy Stokes tells Merchiston to wait in the car. He's totally childish and petulant about this.

After waiting like two minutes, he gets out of the car to do some detective work. Dude, get a grip. This is not some detective movie. This is police business, they're chasing a murderer, you're unarmed and unused to this stuff, you stay in the car. But he has to have his adventure.

This is like one of those horror movie scenes where someone's being really really stupid and you just know they're gonna get it. A mysterious man who might be the killer is smoking right there - oh I know, I'll go see what he's up to! I'll pick up this cigarette for evidence, they're sure to respect me now. I'll just squat here and stare at it, so if someone's behind me they have time to whack me in the head. Frankly, he's lucky to survive this scene.

James in the rain. I always wonder why TV characters stand around in the rain so much. He's not even pulling up his hood.

GET UP AND LEAVE, STUPID. But no, he waits until he can be whacked in the head from behind.

But then you see him holding an ice pack to his head and you just want to cuddle him and nurse him back to health.

And he's figured something out: what all the crime scenes have in common is ring shapes. (I.e. objects organized into ring shapes.) "They're not rings," D.B. says. "They're circles." Is there really such a big difference? Either way, D.B. is now closer to the solution, thanks to James. Um, John. I feel a bit of silly pride that Our Guy got to be in on solving the case. You know, I'd happily watch a show where James just solves cases each week.

So then - the guy is basing this off Dante's 9 circles of hell, and we have six to go, Anger being next. There's some chitchat that I find tired and typical of crime dramas, thus not worth repeating.

I enjoy what he's doing with the pen. It's one of his tools, and he clutches and clicks it while thinking. That's a nice touch.

James wipes his eyes, which might be for the character, or maybe he just itches. It's cute, but then everything he does it cute to me, so I should probably think of something else to say about this scene.

Basically, I think this scene is stupid. Everyone thinks Morgan Brody should go undercover as a sex worker, despite it being a HUGE fucking risk. She is also Conrad Ecklie's (Marc Vann) daughter, so Ecklie is against it. Great idea, put someone close to you into the murderer's hands. It's especially worrying, given that Jim Brass's black sheep daughter Ellie is already missing.

Merchiston butts in and says the murderer is a narcissist, "he can't help himself, he likes to brag, so maybe he's gonna brag to this young lady." Why does he say "young lady"? Is he her uncle? *checks* Elisabeth Harnois was born in 1979, so she's.. the same age as me. So that's only seven years younger than James. Of course, if Black Sabbath was his first story ever in 1986, Merchiston is actually older than James.

Anyway, why would his opinion sway anyone, since he's just the annoying journalist nobody really wants around? As always, James acts the hell out of it. I still say it's a really stupid idea to send a loved one undercover, and indeed she ends up missing by the end of the episode.

A nice sidewards glance there, as if one eye is empathetic and the other one not so much? Maybe he's just hoping Ecklie will go with it, because that would mean more drama, and a possibly quicker solution. He just wants his story. Or does he? It's hard to tell.

The way the office looks and the way James lurks about in the hallway - it's all very BSG somehow. In this scene, James says nothing, just stands there like he wants to know what's going on. He does the thinking face a lot in this episode, which I love.

So the killer's got Morgan and Ellie. He's got them both. I really don't care about any of these characters, because this is an average crime show, and it's hard to feel very much at all about a show like this. However, I loved James' performance and can't wait for more. So there's that. It would be better if he had something to do with the case, or perhaps had some friends or relatives or something that would give his character depth. But hopefully we'll get to that in the second part.

Executive producer: JERRY BRUCKHEIMER.
Another post CSI post coming when we have more information on season 14!